Big War Strategies All wars are won or lost based on a country’s enabling and disabling strategies Enabling strategies: What you do to enable yourself to win Disabling strategies: What you do to cause the other side to lose

Perceptions of War Perceptions Matrix © 2004 Edwin Ellis Name of war Politicians Soldiers Officers Parents Manufacturers What the fighting is like Reasons for fighting war Effectiveness of leaders Sacrifices made

Big War Strategies All wars are won or lost based on a country’s enabling and disabling strategies Enabling Strategies TRAINING What the country does to prepare and motivate the military to fight in the kinds of conditions they will face. NUMBERS Amount of trained reserves that can go into battle & ability to draw on its population for more soldiers WEAPONSAvailability of weapons (& ammunition) & their appropriateness for the conditions Disabling Strategies TRAINING What the country does to know the degree of preparation and motivation of the enemy’s military NUMBERS Degree attrition is used to reduce enemy reserves & its ability to draw on its population for more soldiers WEAPONSAbility to reduce the availability or effectiveness of the enemy’s weapons Military Preparedness

Country War or Conflict © 2002 Edwin Ellis The Role of Military One of five basic elements for winning wars Point in time e.g., BEFORE the war, EARLY in the war, MIDPOINT of the war, LATE in the war Enabling Strategies for Helping itself WIN Disabling strategies for helping the enemy LOOSE Training What the country does to prepareand motivate the military to fight in the kinds of conditions they will face. Numbers Amount of trained reserves that can go into battle & ability to draw on its population for more soldiers Weapons Availability of weapons (& ammunition) & their appropriateness for the conditions Training What the country does to know the degree of preparation and motivation of the enemy’s military Numbers Degree to whichattrition is used to reduce amount of enemy reserves & ability to draw on its population for more soldiers Weapons Ability to reduce the availability or effectiveness of the Enemy’s weapons

Big War Strategies All wars are won or lost based on a country’s enabling and disabling strategies Enabling Strategies GET READY Anticipating conditions & developing extensive plans for stopping the enemy’s ability to wage war GET SET Organizing resources (weapons, equipment, supplies) & preparing soldiers for unique conditions GO! Using over-whelming force so that its strongest will focus on the enemy’s weakest link Disabling Strategies REDUCE CAPABILITY Destroy enemy access to weapons & supplies, communication abilities, leaders & troops SURPRISE & CONFUSE Attack in ways the enemy does not anticipate and ways that maximize enemy confusion REDUCE WILL Make it hard to keep fighting and easy and desirable to surrender Operations

Political Problems Goal Tensions Created Aggressive Action UnexpectedExpected Results Spin-offs New Problems or Tensions Created Advantages of risking war Disadvantages of risking war

Big War Strategies All wars are won or lost based on a country’s enabling and disabling strategies Enabling Strategies STABILIZING Ensuring leaders within the country support war efforts; minimizing impact of those who do not PARTNERSHIPS Ensuring leaders of other countries support and/or contribute to war efforts; minimizing impact of those who do not; forming treaties & coalitions (creating partnerships with other countries) Disabling Strategies DESTABILIZING Causing to enemy’s government to fail ISOLATING Preventing the enemy from forming partnerships with other countries Politics

Country War or Conflict © 2002 Edwin Ellis The Role of Politics One of five basic elements for winning wars Point in time e.g., BEFORE the war, EARLY in the war, MIDPOINT of the war, LATE in the war Enabling Strategies for Helping itself WIN Disabling strategies for helping the enemy LOOSE National Politics Ensuring leaders within the country support war efforts; minimizing impact of those who do not International Politics Ensuring leaders of other countries support war efforts; minimizing impact of those who do not Forming treaties & coalitions Creating partnerships with other countries Destabilizing Causing to enemy’s government to fail Isolating Preventing the enemy from forming partnerships with other countries

Big War Strategies All wars are won or lost based on a country’s enabling and disabling strategies Enabling Strategies PATRIOTISM Persuading its citizen’s to support the war and to make sacrifices (rally ‘round the flag) DECEPTION Fooling its citizens by minimizing “bad news” concerning war efforts (defeats, causalities, etc.) PROPOGANDA Portraying itself a good and the enemy as evil Disabling Strategies DEFEATISM Persuading the enemy’s citizens to oppose the war; persuading enemy soldiers to want to give up. DECEPTION Fooling the enemy about its ability to fight or its intentions PROPANGDA Exaggerating its prowess & inevitability of enemy’s defeat so the enemy will believe it cannot win. Psychology

WHAT are some things the BAD GUYS do to win the war, that a neutral country might view as GOOD? WHY would they be viewed as the “BAD GUYS”? WHO are BAD GUYS in this war? WHAT are some things the GOOD GUYS do to win the war, that a neutral country might view as BAD? WHY would they be viewed as the “GOOD GUYS”? WHO are GOOD GUYS in this war? So what? What is important to understand about this? Name of War

What does the spinner want others to think happened? What does the spinner wants others to think about WHY it happened? Specific details Gist of what actually happened Specific details The “spinner” has a secret goal that’s not usually stated. The spinner’s goal here probably is … Spinners usually use four techniques to “spin” the event. Which ones were used here to spin the explanation of what happened? … Ignore parts that don’t fit Discount parts that don’t fit Invent new information Focus on just parts that fit Spinning war news

Big War Strategies All wars are won or lost based on a country’s enabling and disabling strategies Enabling Strategies PRODUCTION Increasing the amount of food, supplies, & weapons it produces or can attain TRANSPORTATION Increasing its ability to move food, weapons, or resources to where it is needed. COMMUNICATION Increasing ability for military to secretly communicate Disabling Strategies PRODUCTION Decreasing its enemy’s ability to produce or attain food, supplies, & weapons TRANSPORTATION Decreasing its enemy’s ability to move food, weapons, or resources to where it is needed. COMMUNICATION Decreasing ability of enemy’s military to secretly communicate Resources